Remember how, when you buy something on Amazon they are always quick to tell you that people that bought that particular gadget, book, DVD or special gift, also bought these other vaguely (sometimes curiously remotely) similar items?

It's called the upsell. Whilst I've got you buying one thing, I'll sell you another.

I was reminded of this when looking at Custom Affinity Audiences which we are actively encouraging our clients to consider in their accounts. We're seeing some strong results, and the reason seems to be quite simple.

There has been some discussion online recently about how to use keyword match types within RLSA campaigns.

For those who are unfamiliar with RLSA campaigns, these are Google AdWords campaigns which target previous visitors to your site (the RL part - Remarketing Lists) when these people run new search queries (the SA - Search Ads).

For many PPC Managers there is an ingrained aversion to using Broad match keywords. and even for these RLSA campaigns many are reluctant to use anything looser than Broad Match Modified.

This, in my opinion, is an unfounded fear, and you will be doing yourself a disservice if you do not use very generic keywords in Broad Match type for your RLSA campaigns.... and here's why...

Recently I've read a few articles about just how poor the Google Display Network works for advertisers.

Many of the writers question whether it should be used at all.

And, as if this is not bad enough, Google are testing a paid version of the web experience where the ads are pixelated, so your senses needn't be assaulted and offended by their gaudy messages.

But, just perhaps, the GDN is an Ugly Duckling - just waiting to be recognised as the swan it really is.

Let's wander back in time... before the internet. You wanted to find a plumber, you went to the yellow pages, or the classified ads section of your local newspaper. Today we call that Google search.

But there were lot's of other things you bought that you didn't want. Or need. You saw them in magazines, or on TV or heard about them on the radio. Maybe someone left a flyer in your mailbox, or sent you a letter (remember those?). Today we call that Google Display Network.

We have a client with whom we have been discussing RLSA - remarketing lists for search ads. For those who have not yet tried RLSA, we have found it very effective for some clients - being able to catch previous site visitors (people on our remarketing lists) if they initiate a new search on Google. Let's face it - we know they are, on the one hand, still in the market and on the other, presumably, given the fact that time has passed since their first visit, they are also more motivated to complete their conversion (purchase, sign up, contact request) than they were the first time around.

We have been running some effective remarketing campaigns for them for a couple of years based on a simple combination list of All Visitors less Converted Visitors - we have also been running an RLSA campaign and a campaign to the "Similar to" lists - pretty standard stuff.

Yesterday our lists got disapproved and closed. Not the ads, not the campaigns - the lists themselves. The messages on the campaigns referred to the fact that the lists could not be used.

As we build our remarketing lists, so we develop audiences to whom we can present our ads as they later surf their favorite pages.

We have previously referred to these ads as "the ads that follow you around" - we are all familiar with them, and they walk the thin line between welcome and stalking - often failing to stay on the right side of a searcher's sensibilities.

The advantage of remarketing campaigns is that we know that these people have previously visited our site - presumably they have an interest in our product or service. And if we have segmented our lists then we can target our campaigns effectively.

But there a couple of factors that take away from the effectiveness of remarketing.

Have you ever wondered how it is that sometimes, when you visit a website, their ads start to follow you around? The page you visited yesterday suddenly has an ad on one of your other favourite sites that you'd never seen before. Or did you just not notice before?

How did they know?

Well, it's called remarketing and a client recently referred to it as just that - the ads that follow you around.